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“I’m Not the Only Baby in the House Anymore” Shahid Kapoor on Adjusting to Life with His Newborn Son

I’m fifteen minutes early for my interview with Shahid Kapoor so I don’t mind the fact that I have to wait just over an hour to start my interview that, if turned in late, could cost me my job and potentially my life.

Shahid Kapoor arrives without the fanfare you’d generally associate with a star of his calibre. There are only two violinists, playing a rather bad rendition of Kismet Connection’s title song, and his two assistants are sprinkling rose petals, instead of lotus like some of his contemporaries demand.

We’re meeting at a discreet cafe almost 45 kms away from his house, a location decided (and brutally insisted upon) by his team. “This location is very far away from my house,” explained Shahid, when he sits down in front of me, “I needed an escape.”

I decide to prod further but Shahid is already distracted by a pretty bird that has flown into the room via the open French doors of the cafe. Shahid continued to watch the bird flutter around in panic till the bird finally figures out the way out of the cafe.

“It’s very important to me that animals know their place in the world,” he says.

I congratulate him on his new baby and he brushed it off, almost annoyed.

“I thought this interview is about me and not the baby,” he says, and one of his assistants shoots me a look that is almost similar to the look my mother sends me when she thinks I’m not looking.

“I am sorry, it’s not your fault. It’s the damn baby,” he said, “I love him but everything is about him now.”

Shahid Kapoor and wife Mira Rajput had a baby boy recently, whom they named Zain Kapoor. “I thought having another baby would be exciting, but it turns out that babies need a lot of attention.”

I remind him that he was already a father before Zain but he dismisses this with a flick of his hand. “Misha was a dream to be around. All the presents she got were clearly for girls. Zain gets all the presents that I like.”

Shahid begins listing down all the gifts they’ve received for baby Zain. “He got a toy car and a dinosaur that makes this insane roaring sound. I’ve been after Mira to get me that toy since forever.”

I try to veer the conversation to his work and upcoming project, but he wouldn’t let it go. “He is not even ready to play with any of his toys yet, but I’m not even allowed to touch any of them,” he says, “I guess, I’m not the only baby in the house anymore.”

The interview is cut short as Mira called Shahid to angrily reprimand him for not picking up enough diapers for Zain like he had promised he would.

“Another thing that used to be exclusively mine. Now I have to share my diapers with that baby,” he says, before leaving on a rose petal strewed path.